UAlbany glad to finally be playing at home

ALBANY — Two weeks after the University at Albany started its season, the Great Danes are finally getting a chance to play at home.

UAlbany played the first five games of the season on the road, opening at No. 10 Pittsburgh and then playing four games in the NIT Season Tip-Off. All of them came away from home.

The Danes will face Navy – which like UA, has a 2-3 record — in the first season’s first home game Friday afternoon at 4 at SEFCU Arena.

“We have been on the road way too long,” coach Will Brown said. “We do have five games under our belts, and I think our guys are anxious to play at home. We’re not getting on a bus or a plane. We get to play in our own gym and sleep in our own beds. It’s important for us to establish a homecourt advantage so, when the conference season comes, teams will be concerned about coming to SEFCU Arena.”

The Danes will play four non-conference home games. After Friday, the Danes will play Fairleigh Dickinson at SEFCU on Sunday at 4 p.m. The other two games are against Colgate (Wednesday, Dec. 7) and Dartmouth (Friday, Dec. 23).

This will be the first time the Danes have played Navy. The Midshipmen, who lost to Siena at the Times Union Center, are coming off a 57-55 loss against Tulane.

UAlbany is 30-16 in home openers since 1965. The Danes have lost their last two home openers, falling to Morgan State in 2009 and Cornell last season. Both of those losses were by four points.

UA and Navy play ten times…I’d say UA wins 9 out of 10. Albany significantly more talented but started fooling around and let them back in. Not a good way to finish but they were up 22 with 9 minutes to go and tried to put it into cruise control. Hopefully lesson learned.

Yeah, you were charging $5 a ticket!! Siena games are $25-$16. Charging kids that little is one thing, but when any adult can get into a D-1 game, especially a powerhouse like UA, for $5, it’s like you’re admitting defeat!!

We are not going to compare programs here kids(well the kids compare em but not the adults)…….both have good facilities. How many Siena people have never even seen a UA game at SEFCU..they are missing a good atmosphere and good seats, the way the arena is set up close to the court. As I have stated many times, I went to both schools, played for Siena,root for both. You don’t diss your neighbors and friends. UA doing well is good for area and Siena and vice versa.By the way I just saw a Time Warner offer charging $5 for Siena tix for some games.

Dec 5: UA 71-Siena 62..Suero a game changer

PS hard to believe but Doc Sauers is 81 yrs old now!!By the way UA outscored Navy in second half today; games go in streaks if you follow college hoops.

For all he has been subjected to Will Brown has show continuous class throughout his tenure here.

I agree with Luke, and Hell he used to play for Siena! We should root for both teams because they both help the area when they do well. The only night we should have a rivalry between the two schools is the one night a year we have the Albany vs Siena game!